Police in Luoyang, Henan province, China have discovered an underground dungeon where a man forced women to have sex for money and perform in pornographic movies. In all, six women were enslaved for periods of 2 to 21 months, and two of them were eventually murdered. The operation went on for two years without police discovering what was going on. They're really sorry.

CNN reports that the women were nightclub hostesses who were abducted by 34-year old married father of one Li Hao. He dug a dungeon underneath his residential complex, in much the same way that Josef Fritzl and "The New Jersey Josef Fritzl" created underground space for their crimes. Li Hao's operation was discovered when one of the abducted women escaped earlier this month and returned to her family.

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Understandably, people in Luoyang are upset that police didn't discover this sooner.

On Saturday, Guo Congbin — who directs the public security bureau in Luoyang, which is in Henan province — said the lag time between when Li began abducting the women and police discovered him indicates that community patrols were ineffective and police had lost their sense of responsibility.

He noted four police officers have been suspended; entertainment venues, Internet cafes, beauty parlors, saunas and the like are being more closely examined; and an "online cleansing" effort is targeting porn websites.

"I beg the people of Luoyang to give us another chance," Guo said. "We will show you the results of our actions."

While "sorry" hardly seems sufficient for such a breach of professional responsibility, an apology is more than what manywomen who have been wronged by the police get. Silver lining?